Analysing Album Artwork #3

The last album cover I have chosen to analyse is 'The Rolling Stones' cover for their ninth studio album 'sticky fingers' released in 1971. The album was also the first album release from the newely formed label ' Rolling Stones Records'.

The artwork for the album was thought up by Andy Warhol, photographed by Billy Name and designed by Craig Braunand features a cover image of a male's crotch wearing jeans on the front and the opposite on the back whilst inside was a photograph of the male wearing white cotton briefs. The front zipper featured a real working zip with a mock-up beltbuckle that pulled apart to reveal the insleeve of the vinyl record. The images were roumered to be of Mick Jagger although Warhol said otherwise and inside, 'Andy Warhol' was printed on the waistband of the briefs in the same typo as on the cover of 'The Velvet Underground's' first album.

I think that the image, although risky to print on an album cover (especially the size of an LP vinyl), would prove rewarding for the amount of publicity the band would get from it. I don't think that I will be re-creating this album although the idea of taking a mid-shot photo of a bodypart, and not the face of the artist, could be interesting so I think this could be somthing to keep in mind when designing my digipack and suring shooting. I think that this could also link to some of the extreme close-up shots of Rickie's face I have included in my animatic for the music video.I also like how a photograph is used on the cover and simply edited, the vintage 'look' of this image is something I could look into experimenting with on Photoshop.

I think that the grayscale photograph with the red and white fonts on the label and the band name and album title proves effective, applying to the three colour palette and keeping it simple.

I think that the 3D element of the zipper adds a huge interest to the cover as it makes it interactive to an audience, which in a strange way, might make a person want to buy the album. I think it also adds value to a collectors point of view.